Alina Orchestra

It is an absolute joy to be associated with Alina Orchestra, and I am truly delighted and honoured to be its Patron. Alina represents something I believe very strongly in: the extraordinary power of music to bring people together, enrich lives and strengthen our communities.

What a privilege it is to have access to music of such quality right here on our doorstep.

Music is not a luxury. It is not an add-on. It is an essential part of our lives.

It gives us an outlet for creativity and self-expression, connects us with one another and can make a profound contribution to our mental and physical wellbeing. Music has the remarkable ability to reach people in ways that words sometimes cannot.

This is at the very heart of why Nick Cutts founded Alina Orchestra. He believed passionately that everyone should have access to music and to the many extraordinary benefits it can bring.

From the outset, Alina has been about much more than performing great music. It was established to support and engage with every part of the community, particularly those who are too often overlooked or excluded. It is a rare and special orchestra that takes music directly into communities across Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and Central Bedfordshire, reaching people who might otherwise have little opportunity to experience live orchestral music.

Nick’s vision was not simply to perform music, but to share it widely — to ensure that everyone feels welcome at Alina’s concerts and that people have opportunities to participate, in whatever way and at whatever level is right for them.

Through initiatives such as Band in a Van and Alina’s care home workshops, music is taken beyond the concert hall and into the heart of the community. If people cannot come to the music, Alina takes the music to them.

This work is particularly important for children and young people. Singing, playing and experiencing music opens a world from the inside out. It allows children to explore ideas, express emotions, develop confidence and experience the joy of creating something beautiful, both independently and together. Music can help young people discover who they are and find their own voice.

And yet, despite everything we know about its importance, music education in our schools is under increasing pressure. Artistic education is too often treated as optional, rather than essential.

We know that musical engagement enriches our cultural and emotional lives, while musical training can also support cognitive skills such as attention and memory. Music is not an “extra”. It is a fundamental part of how we learn, how we grow and how we express what words alone cannot carry.

It is difficult to imagine a world without music. It would be a bleak and impoverished one. How fortunate we are to experience the extraordinary power, energy and beauty of live orchestral music — and how fitting that Alina places that experience at the heart of its work.

I am immensely proud to support an orchestra that combines artistic excellence with a genuine commitment to its community.

Let us continue to champion music. Let us protect it, invest in it and, most importantly, share it.

And let us celebrate the vision that brought Alina Orchestra into being: a belief that music belongs to everyone, and that when we place music at the heart of our communities, wonderful things can happen.

THE COUNTESS HOWE, DStJ
His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
Patron, Alina Orchestra